Hello everyone, I'm glad to be back after these 3 long months after my last update. Now if you ask why the heck it took me so long, it was because this chapter was a bit difficult to do due to some compilations regarding the script and stuff, plus this delay was also adding up while doing the compilations of the previous chapters so I had little time to do it. Anyway here it is and I hope it was worth all the effort.

Before starting, you should know that from now on I will stop writing the reviews that you are leaving me for an indefinite time.

Chapter 25: Looking for the murderer

13/03/2022

"So you managed to master your magic circuits right from the start, huh?" Rider commented as he popped a grilled fish into his mouth. The entire team was having dinner around the table in the dining room of the Mackenzies' house.

A few hours had passed since Ichigo had finished his first training exercise to test his potential and the results had been satisfactory, but there was still more to learn.

"Yes, I must admit that Kurosaki-san has done quite well despite being his first day, although it was not surprising considering that his new power was more or less similar to when he was a Shinigami. He just had to used and handled them in the same way and managed to adapt in such a short time." Urahara replied praising the former Shinigami's actions as a feat. "Although he still has things to learn to be satisfied."

"Mmm, I admire young people with spirit like you. You really do remind me of myself when I was your age. It's too bad you're not in my army."

Ichigo, Saber and Waver just rolled their eyes as they continued eating without saying anything at the conquering king's comment.

"Well, putting that aside, he still has Projection to learn and that's the hardest part." Urahara added before drinking a mug of beer. "Anyway, we'll practice that tomorrow and focus on Kurosaki-san adjusting well to his new power."

"That seems very good to me." Rider nodded in agreement before looking at his young Master. "You should take example from the spiky hair if you want to become as strong as him, boy. Then no one will take you for someone weak and without talent."

Waver ignored what his Servant said as he continued to eat modestly, and his mind snorted at the suggestion. How many times did he have to tell her that he wasn't cut out to be a fighter? His only quality was alchemy and it never occurred to him to learn fighting techniques. Although of course, the fact that he was in a war implied that he had to fight since this was not only between Servants, Masters could also do it, and if necessary, kill each other.

Waver had barely considered that possibility at first, but what he never predicted was that his hated teacher would also be here even after taking Rider's heirloom from him since he never expected him to get a replacement. Putting that aside, he still remembered the serious threat he gave him in the harbor that he was going to show her the terror that came with participating in a war like this.

Those words were still echoing in his head, and although he didn't show it, he had begun to regret his decision to come here to participate in the war. However, he also knew that there was no turning back now and he had to move on if he was to survive this and return to the Clock Tower a victor, albeit honestly, for the first time since he made the reckless decision to enter this conflict, he didn't know if in the end he would get what he longed for even if he came back alive since Kayneth would surely be waiting for him to punish him for stealing Rider's relic.

The mere thought of facing his feared and hated teacher giving him a malevolent look promising reprisals for his imprudence caused him to cower in fear like that time in the port, and he couldn't know what else would happen next. He was really at a standstill between retreating or moving forward since as much as he wanted to retreat, his pride wouldn't allow it after going too far with summoning Rider and proving to the big guy that he was worthy of commanding him as his Master.

However, with the difficulties that have been occurring lately such as the revelation of both Archer and Berserker as the only potential threats in the war, as well as the unexpected appearance of his teacher as one of the chosen Masters, it made him realize that this would not be so bad easy as he had previously planned. And this worsened with the appearance of Caster and his Master who had begun to wreak havoc on the city by committing heinous serial murders, so a temporary ceasefire was established until the renegade Master-Servant pair were hunted down and their reign of terror ended once and for all. At first Waver had become enthusiastic about the idea since he could take advantage of the temporary cessation of hostilities to plan his future strategies as well as get an additional seal if he managed to hunt down Caster.

But in the end that didn't turn out to be as easy as going for a walk around the city and even more so when he witnessed that human slaughterhouse in the middle of the city's sewers that was undoubtedly the work of the Caster's Master and that it was without a doubt the most horrible thing he had ever seen. He still remembered the countless bodies piled up everywhere, mostly children, looking as if they had died in agony. That macabre vision would always haunt him for the rest of his life and although he didn't want to admit it, he deeply regretted not heeding Rider's warnings to get out of here. There was also the fact that Assassin was still alive and could have killed him and his Master ally without them realizing it were it not for the supernatural reflexes of their respective Servants.

They really were about to die treacherously in that horrible place without realizing it and apparently, despite the ceasefire having been established, not many wanted to respect this new rule for the simple fact of taking advantage of the underdogs and having the opportunity to catch them off guard as happened with the Assassin's ambush.

After this traumatic experience, Waver couldn't sleep well most of the night remembering the faces of the corpses in the slaughterhouse thinking that he could end up the same one day either at the hands of Caster, his Master, one of the Assassins or his teacher. The whole experience had been taking its toll on his mind making him paranoid and he had been wondering over and over why the hell he decided to participate in a bloody death ritual somewhere foreign far from home. Was it for glory? Seek respect? Right now, to the young magus didn't give a damn about all that shit since he didn't want to obtened them this way and all he could think about was surviving the end of this war, and he still trusted the power of his Servant to achieve it.

"Well, Saber? What do you think of your Master now?" Rider asked now looking at Saber.

This question caught the blonde off guard who nearly choked processing this, and the rest of the guests in the dining room were equally surprised as well. The Knight of the Rebellion turned directly towards the King of Conquerors with an indignant look.

"What does that mean?" She demanded to know if this was some kind of joke.

"Well, I've already noticed that you two don't get along quite well, but now that you've found out who he is and he's already starting to get in shape, what do you think now? Has he already started to earn your respect?"

Mordred's expression was puzzled as she analized the last line. She having respect to her Master? Like hell! Why would she do such a thing considering the latter was still an incompetent who couldn't even cast spells to help him fight or defend himself? She had to admit that he wasn't a coward and had a fighting spirit like her or any of her former comrades, but nothing more. She kept thinking that her temporary relationship was nothing more than a pretext to achieve a common goal.

"I don't know what you're talking about." She answered denying such statement. "I'm still don't believe that he was some kind of spiritual warrior and that he fought in a war that I've never heard of. I don't know why you praise him just for doing such an insignificant feat that any magus even second or third class could do."

Everyone fell silent at the knight's direct response and Ichigo couldn't help but frown a little annoyed when he saw how she continued to disrespect him, although he didn't give it much importance. He knew it wasn't easy to convince someone from another world of the exploits and adventures that he and his friends had gone through before, and he hoped she wouldn't. All that mattered to him at the moment was to continue training, to get stronger so that he would be in a position to fight his competitors and win this war by any means possible.

After a short silence, Urahara spoke to lighten the mood.

"Well, I guess I can't blame you for that, but you'll see what Kurosaki-san can do." He spoke smugly.

The Knight of the Rebellion only gave a small snort in response before continuing with her dinner. She's had enough of this bullshit about her Master being some kind of 'grab box' and being praised for an insignificant deed that doesn't deserve outright mention, although the same couldn't be said for their duel where he became almost a berserker, and it made her struggle seriously for a brief moment. She still didn't want to admit it, but she was very impressed by this mysterious power he had over her and wanted to know where it came from. That was until she heard his story before participating in this war, and well... she still didn't know what to think except that it was too hard for her to believe considering that he had almost been killed by one of those Assassins in the sewers of not be by her.

Even if he somehow had time to keep training more and gain experience, it might help him to hold his own against any of his competitors, but not in front of a Heroic Spirit. It would take a miracle like the one that happened during the heat of their fight.

"I don't think it's a big deal." She commented as she chewed her food.

These simple words did not make his good optimism go away. "Well, be skeptical if you want, but it has put you to what will blow your mind like that time when he managed to catch you off guard in the fight."

This only served to irritate the Knight of Rebellion a bit. Aside from Ichigo, Orihime and Rider, the person that bothered her the most in the group was without a doubt that damn hatter that somehow reminded her so much of father's court mage. That stupid comic but full of self-confidence smile and that eccentric attitude reminded him quite a lot of that pervert that he put a penis on father to give birth her. Seriously, this guy an apprentice to the enigmatic magus of flowers and had he been infected by him? Or is he just a lost cousin of his?

"Anyway, I suspect that in a matter of days or weeks, 10 days I guess, Kurosaki-san will have grown strong enough to take on any magi, but I doubt they'll give us enough time before the war resumes." Urahara added. "All we can do is work hard and hurry this up."

Ichigo agreed with this line that he had to get stronger so he could fight as well and protect his friends. But now he didn't care about the war anymore and he just focused on kicking Caster and saving all the kids that bastard was after them. He wish it didn't take him too long to get stronger.

"When are you going to start that training section again?" Rider asked frivolously. "I'm looking forward to seeing what he's capable of."

"For now, we'll rest for a while before we start." Kisuke replied calmly as he continued to eat. "There's no rush, so we'll take this slow."

Ichigo had no choice but to do all of this in his time. Waiting so long wasn't his source, but he had to if he wanted things to work out for him. With that decided, he calmly resumed his dinner.

Having a good time, the Karakura gang finished their respective dishes and then took another well-deserved break for a few hours. Once the break was over, they went out to the field to train again. Urahara urged Ichigo to practice boxing with the hanging wooden column, and Ichigo readily accepted. Of course, before he did, he made sure to bring along some cloth bandages to cover his fists and wrists in 2 layers on top of each other to cushion the blows like makeshift boxing gloves. The memory of her worn and bruised knuckles on the first section of it had assured her that she was taking precautions. Once done, he moved his reiryoku through his circuits to activate them and convert his reiryoku into raw energy to strengthen his arms. Once reinforceds, the orange haired magus started hitting the column/punching bag hard at a moderate pace like a few hours ago. He punched and punched nonstop at the column, sending it reeling back as his friends looked at him. He would occasionally do spinning kicks as well to test his leg capabilities.

Waver and Rider were also watching, and the former was quite surprised as the rookie magus managed to strengthen his arms with ease and use them effectively to hit the log. The young magus still had a hard time trusting the orange-haired teenager and his gang as they have been revealed to be prominent foreigners from another dimension who came here in a manner likely similar to use of the Second Magic. All of them are not magi, but they possessed supernatural abilities that I did not yet understand and were non-existent in this world.

He still couldn't be sure why the Grail chose to bring a foreigner from another world to participate in a war like this, and more importantly how the higher-ups of the ritual would take his presence. According to what they told him, both Tokiomi Tohsaka and the judge of the war, Risei Kotomine, knew of his arrival and allowed him to participate without problems. He still found this quite strange since none of that information that he was going to see an extra participant from another world had never reached him before and surely the rest of the participants leaving everyone in the dark. He didn't know what to think at first, but if what they said about them allowing them to freely participate in the ritual was true, then he didn't think there could be any problem with it.

They all seemed to be trustworthy people, even his own Servant seemed to trust them after revealing their story yesterday and he had no problem continuing to cooperate with them. Of course, the young magus had some doubts about it, but he swallowed them since creating mistrust would not bring anything good, and therefore he had no choice but to tolerate them so as not to cause problems, and if possible, use them to his advantage.

Uryū and Orihime also watched the display with calm and admiration respectively. There was no doubt in both of their minds that the former Substitute seemed to have adapted well to training just like the first time, but the point of this section is to find out how long Kurosaki could hold out hitting the trunk with his reinforced arms. They both already knew that the boy's abilities are somewhat abnormal as Urahara argued and admired every time he talked about it like a scientist proud of his invention, and even Ishida had to grudgingly admit that fact.

Ever since Kurosaki lost his Shinigami powers including his spiritual awareness, he was nothing special anymore, at least temporarily, but now it seemed like he had a chance to be a strange freak again, albeit in a different way. They couldn't help but wonder what he would become once he had crossed the path of magecraft.

Saber just watched with her arms crossed, not the least bit impressed at the display of strength she had already seen earlier. Just as she thought and clarified before, this is nothing but an insignificant feat for any rookie who was training in this field and still had a long way to go. Maybe he was doing fine now, but nothing worth mentioning. She snorted mentally at the supposed Shinigami 'captain's words that in 10 days or weeks he would be strong enough to take care of himself with the other Masters.

'As if he could match my mother or Merlin. He is nobody!'

Oblivious to the thoughts or opinions of his spectators, Ichigo continued to consecutively hit the pillar for a while without pausing and little by little he felt that more time had passed than before. Uryū noted with surprise that 17 minutes had passed and Ichigo continued relentlessly.

Ichigo felt his knuckles wear down from the continual pounding into the thick wood, but he ignored them as he continued relentlessly. He knew that he could reach his limit, but he had to overcome that as he didn't want his strength to be so limited to just 10 minutes and he wanted to get stronger. He couldn't afford to continue being weaker now that he had finally achieved a power similar to when he was a Shinigami and he had to take advantage of it to get stronger, protect his friends and win this war.

But not only that.

He remembered the faces of those children he had seen die at the hands of Caster. The one he tried to save in the park and his back exploded in a horrible bloody spectacle in front of him. Even now Ichigo couldn't forget that scene let alone sleep that night after the battle. Part of his affliction was also due to his poor mana transplant to his Saber which limited her from fighting effectively and thus she was unable to defeat that bastard and she fell into unconsciousness weakened. Ichigo hadn't been able to help but blame himself for his own weakness, and so he had made it his second reason to get stronger to strengthen his Servant as well.

There were also the children from Caster's lair. His mind clicked at that memory as he saw the huge pile of corpses of those poor children who had surely been tortured to death. He couldn't forget even that and every time he imagined that scene in his mind, he felt his blood begin to boil and an anger began to cloud his mind. He had started to intensify his blows.

His friends noticed this strange behavior and how the intensity of his blows increased constantly. They couldn't help but be worried.

"Kurosaki…" Ishida tried to speak, but Ichigo didn't listen.

The young Kurosaki continued to punch the pillar no matter if his fists wore out or worse, broke. Anger had almost clouded his vision in red while his mind was on the times he had seen Caster and his atrocities, and the worst was… his laughter. He could still remember how that bastard laughed in such a twisted and hateful way when he murdered that child he had tried to save.

That fucking disgusting prominent smile of that disgusting fiend and the tone he used to mock him for his helplessness and weakness for not being able to save those children and continued to laugh even more by killing them all. However, it would not be the first time that he met such a being so disgusting and at the same time the most hated in the world.

Yeah, since the first one was that fucking hollow that took from his mother 8 years ago and with her the happiness that ruled his whole family. The anger he was feeling now was more or less the same when he found out that it was that hollow, the Grand Fisher, who had killed his mother and enjoyed it like a good feast. He saw both the Fisher and the Caster as the same thing as they are both equally twisted and they looked those fucking crazy smiles and that sneering laughs...

That was the straw that broke the camel's back when anger had clouded his rationalism and he suddenly imagined that the log in front of him was the Fisher or Caster with that hateful smile of his. Ichigo growled in anger and throwing an arm back, he flung it forward with lightning speed and…

*THUMP*

With a mighty crash of thunder, the fist impact down and was nearly buried in the dent. But that was not all. From the dent, 2 cracks began to emerge that spread in opposite directions of the column that eventually joined at the back and... the entire trunk structure snapped in 2 instantly. Everyone looked in shock, including Ichigo himself, who was still holding the same position he was in moments before the trunk broke into 2 halves with a single punch.

Waver and Rider were also very shocked at what they had just witnessed. The young magus was more puzzled since he didn't expect the orange-haired Master to have enough potential to break a piece of trunk completely. If this boy had been in a Clock Tower self-defense class, who knows, maybe he could have been a team captain if it weren't for the discriminatory policy towards Asians.

After a moment of silence Urahara decided to speak.

"Well, I think you've gone a little overboard." He said with some humor.

The others took this in with puzzlement. Only a little?

It wasn't long before the shopkeeper's expression turned serious.

"I already warned you to slow down. Remember that even you started to adapt well, that didn't mean you can handle it at all. It seems that its potential depends on the emotional state as well. Interesting."

Ichigo just stood there as he relaxed his mind from the scuffle he had had and reflected on the extraordinary force he had exerted to completely destroy that pillar. It would be something very similar to what Chad would do. Actually, he didn't want to get carried away with rage, but he couldn't help it as he remembered why he trained so hard to get stronger to get stronger and stop Caster. Although he never wanted to admit it, he was excited to have powers again and even if they weren't from Shinigami, he believed that this would be enough. Well, he still had a lot to learn. It was still starting.

"Well, putting that aside, how long had Kurosaki-san been punching?" Urahara asked looking at Ishida for him to give him the answer.

"Hmm, I think he broke a record of 22 minutes or more…" The Quincy answered, calculating the time his rival had been hitting the pillar.

Urahara hummed as he took in his former apprentice's new record. "Mmm. As always, with every experience he gains, he will get stronger."

"Well, it's not surprising. You already knew about this, didn't you?" Ichigo said looking a little sarcastic at the shopkeeper.

"Yeah, but it still amazes me how quickly you mature." He responded humorously as he took his fan and waved it in front his face. Ichigo couldn't help but growl in annoyance at this.

"Well, putting that aside, while Inoue-san repairs the pillar, you can take the opportunity to practice Reinforcement with your legs." She then headed towards Ishida. "Ishida-san, how about you help him out a bit?"

Both the former Shinigami and the Quincy were caught off guard by what the shopkeeper said. Uryū Ishida and Ichigo Kurosaki training together? Anyone who knew more about the relationship between these 2 rivals/friends would find it very strange, although given today's situation, neither of them had a problem accepting.

"Very well." Ishida nodded and then Kurosaki. Urahara smirked as the 2 teens left the group to go to a large area to practice.

"So those two are going to train together. How strange." Kon said as he watched the pair walk away.

"Well, it's not a big deal either considering they once teamed up to deal with the hollows that invaded Karakura, remember?"

Kon made note of the mess the Quincy had caused when he'd brought a large horde of hollows into the city via bait or something just to have some stupid competition with Ichigo. At first both had started to hunt the hollows alone and they did well, but since this did not end and more hollows kept coming than usual, both enemies were forced to ally and fight back-to-back to end this faster. The strategy had worked quite well until a Menos Grande appeared who turned out to be an extremely strong opponent even for both of them.

However, in the end Ichigo managed to make him flee by unleashing a huge torrent of reiatsu from his (or Rukia's) Zanpakutō which severely injured him.

Kon did not know why, but at some point, after that incident, he thought that a friendship would have been forged between the Shinigami and the Quincy, although in part they did, but he did not see a cooperation in which they both fought as a team like that time. Or a joint training like the one he was witnessing right now. Either way, this seemed like something he wouldn't see that often.

Meanwhile, Waver also had no words to describe what he had witnessed. Certainly, this boy was a real box of surprises and he kept thinking that he was very lucky not to meet him as an enemy. He still remembered all of his history and though he still remained mostly incredulous about the fact that he was once some sort of Elemental known as a Shinigami (or god of death in Japanese mythology) or something like that, the very thought of being next to someone with a power capable of equaling the strength of a Heroic Spirit seemed chilling to him and he couldn't tell how long their alliance would last before they would be enemies again.

At the moment, it seemed like he still wasn't much like his record said, but the fact that he mastered Reinforcement in such a short amount of time right after training was amazing. He was also thinking of that od-like source of spiritual energy, the one known as 'reiatsu'. Until today he had never heard of anything like that in his entire life since it was just a foreign energy source and therefore it is not being produced by the World. Despite not being related to the od or mana, it served as a replacement for the latter 2 to fill the boy's magic circuits and manifest mystery or magecraft, however, he did not know what types of effects that foreign energy source could produce and how the world would react.

Either way, it seemed like he was still no match against really experienced magi like Kayneth and Tokiomi.

He only hoped that when the temporary ceasefire was over, Ichigo had grown strong enough.

"Man, what a day." Ichigo said exhausted as he lay back on the bed in his room. It really was a pretty rough day. Apart from practicing with his reinforced fists, he also had to practice with his legs to determine durability and performance, and Ishida was the right person to put them to the test.

Both friends/rivals did competitive tests such as going 15 to 20 laps in a row around the field, of which they almost finished in a tie. It was clear to the apprentice-level magus that 17 months of inactivity wasn't enough to make him rusty, at least in part since he couldn't keep his circuits activated for much longer without getting used to it either, though at least he was gaining experience bit by bit.

Then the next thing was to practice again with his arms reinforced with the spine (restored by Orihime) but this time without getting carried away by emotions and breaking the pillar like before, so he was boxing for a long time without problems. Those exercises with the arms and legs were repeated simultaneously for most of the day until sunset and Ichigo was exhausted. Even if his physical condition was restored moments before the exercises thanks to Inoue, his mind was exhausted, and he wanted to rest.

Ichigo let out a heavy sigh as his back settled into the comfortable sheet. This was what he needed now. Looking on the bright side, this training wasn't as intense as Urahara's and Yoruichi's respectively, and he wondered when that was going to come. Anyway, according to Sandal-hat tomorrow is when he has to try to learn Projection, try to forge his characteristic sword Zangetsu from his mind and surely make a game of fencing with Sandal-hat to strengthen his performance.

He was eager to start the second phase of the training now that he seemed to have done the first one which was precisely adapting well to the conditions of his reinforced body by doing some things that he could only have done as a Shinigami. This somehow reminded him of the first 2 phases of the training that Urahara did to him to become a Shinigami again. He now just needed a handy weapon like his Zanpakutō, and maybe with Projection he can get it.

He could almost feel that if he took this well and with dedication maybe with some luck, he would be able to finish this training sooner than he would have previously thought. He just had to wait a little longer for him and Saber to go hunt down that fiend and his Master.

A while after he put those thoughts aside to relax his mind, Ichigo lay there for a long time until he felt the need to get up to go to the bathroom. He went straight to the bathroom to take a piss and after leaving, he noticed that Kon was sitting on his bed watching TV which he thought was an unusual sight since he had never seen the Mod soul watching a TV, although it wasn't that weird since Ichigo always forbade the talking stuffed animal to leave his room, and his room didn't have a TV.

Kon was watching the weather channel, but his attention was focused on the representative, being an attractive woman with nice busts. Ichigo just rolled his eyes at this sight. It was clear that Kon was not interested in the weather and only focused on the weather woman. Ichigo didn't give a damn about this and decided to ignore him and leave him alone as he headed towards the bed. He had to rest for tomorrow.

"We interrupt this to give you some breaking news." Before Ichigo walked past the TV to lie on the bed, he heard the station change, and out of curiosity decided to watch it.

"Oh come on, just when it got interesting!" Kon protested annoyed at the channel change. Ichigo obviously ignored him as he leaned closer to get a better look at the screen and saw a female reporter and a paragraph below it that said, 'Other murders of familiers and child disappearances.'

"Today at 08:00 in the morning new cases of homicides have been found in some houses in Shintou in which many have been murdered in a gruesome manner while minors seem to have disappeared or were kidnapped since they have not been found their bodies there." The reporter spoked while Ichigo was frozen when took what she was saying.

"As of today, there have been over 20 families murdered and many minors going missing at an alarming rate." Ichigo listened intently to the station. "This wave of murders and kidnappings has succumbed to the city in a wave of terror and although the authorities do what they can to find the person or persons responsible for these heinous murders, unfortunately they have not been very successful. These are the images of the children disappeared until today."

Various photos and portraits of children appeared one after another and most of their faces were not that familiar to Ichigo. However, when the eighth face of a child appeared, his eyes widened in shock as he recognized him.

It was him!

He was the boy he had tried to save from Caster in that park and failed miserably when he suffered a horrible bloody death and to this day his image had not left his mind.

"These are the 11 missing persons who until today remain unknown in parallel and we do not know their situation. Many surviving family members enter into mass hysteria for the return of their loved ones, although there is still no response from the kidnapper or kidnappers."

Ichigo's blood chilled even more as he remembered the image of that boy and his back exploding in a horrible bloody spectacle, and the hundreds of corpses they had found in Caster's hideout also flashed in his mind.

"Until this is resolved, the authorities have declared a curfew while they will do everything possible to locate them."

'Until then everyone will be dead!' Ichigo sneered mentally as he considered the chances of the authorities finding the killers and the children as 0, and even if by some miracle they find find them, they would become pasture for their familiars. There was nothing the Fuyuki police could do against supernatural forces they didn't even know about.

He wondered what the hell Tokiomi and the other Masters were doing about these atrocities and why they weren't lifting a finger to stop them once and for all. He didn't know what the hell the rules of this fucking ritual were for if no one seemed to care what was going to happen to this city with those 2 bastards out doing whatever they wanted. It was clear that apart from him and Waver, no other Master witnessed that horrible human slaughterhouse of children and they were not aware that this had to end once and for all if they didn't want there to be a second slaughterhouse.

Ichigo couldn't help but shudder at the mere thought of a 'second child slaughterhouse.' Suddenly his blood began to thaw and boil. He was really sick of this shit. If no one is going to make an attempt to stop those 2 bastards, who will? Did they really care enough about the conclusion of the war than the lives of many innocents who were unfairly involved in it?

'To hell with this!'

As much as he wanted to be patient and wait for his training to be complete, he couldn't continue to sit idly by while those bastards rejoice in slaughtering some poor children, much less leave this matter to the other Masters who would surely be resting quietly in their seats respective hideouts waiting for someone to do the work for them and for the war to resume.

If that is so, then there was only him left to do something. With all revived resolution, he had made a decision.

"Hey, where are you going?" Kon asked watching as Ichigo walked towards the exit door of the motel.

"What do you think? I'm going to hunt down that bastard on my own." Ichigo answered as he stopped in front of the door.

"What!? You're not serious, are you? Are you still insisting on going after him?" Kon asked stunned as he got off the bed and tried to get closer to Ichigo in a futile attempt to stop him.

"And what do you want me to do? I can't sit idly by while those two have their way." Ichigo snapped without looking at the stuffed lion as he headed to open the door.

He knew that it was reckless of him to go now to stop Caster without having completed his training, but he could no longer ignore what was happening out there, besides that he now had some power to stop him. So far, he had only completed his first section being awakening his magic circuits, activating them by transferring his reiryoku, which worked very well, and having learned and mastered Reinforcement, but he still had too much to learn besides the last thing he needed was a sword like his Zanpakutō, hence his need to learn Projection.

However, because this might take a few days before he completes his training, it may already be too late and all of Fuyuki's children may be dead, and their bodies piled up in numerous sewer warehouses like the...

Ichigo shook his head vigorously as he tried to get rid of that damn image and focus on his search. That was why he couldn't wait for the training to be over and try to stop those 2 bastards once and for all.

Just as he reached for the handle and opened the door, he stopped in his tracks as he saw that the person in front of him was Urahara looking at him with an smile.

"Were you going somewhere?"

Of course, Ichigo wasn't fazed by his presence and stared firmly at the shopkeeper like an obstacle. Not long after, Kon managed to catch up with Ichigo and climbed from his leg to his shoulder.

"Let me guess. You saw something nasty on the news, didn't you?" The shopkeeper said in anticipation.

Ichigo didn't respond for a few moments as he stared at Sandal-hat. "That's right. Those bastards are still kidnapping a lot of innocent children and who knows what they'll be doing to them, and I can't bear to watch this." Images of the slaughterhouse flooded his mind recalling the experience. "I don't know what Tokiomi and the other Masters are doing, but it's clear they're not going to lift a finger for anything no matter how much time passes like they don't give a shit."

"I don't think that's it. The thing is that the other Masters still don't know the whereabouts of Caster and his Master." Urahara replied calmly.

"Yeah sure." Ichigo scoffed sarcastically. "It's very strange that they didn't manage to locate his first lair in the sewers before Waver did."

The former captain did not argue anymore and decided to listen to the former Substitute.

"Look, I know it's reckless considering I'm not done with my training yet, but I can't wait for them to do anything about it either, and by then it will be too late."

Kisuke just looked at Isshin's son seriously for a moment as he studied his determined expression. Once again, it was clear that what he saw in the abandoned lair was not to his liking at all and only served to increase his dedication to stopping Caster and his Master no matter what. So far Ishida didn't tell him exactly what they saw, but he didn't push the matter too hard since even the intellectual and quiet Quincy didn't want to remember it, and thus he didn't want to reopen old wounds.

Either way, he understood his need to go after those fiends and do justice, but that wouldn't be as easy as looking for hollows around Karakura for 2 reasons. One obviously hadn't completed his training with magecraft yet, though on second thought, it's possible that he might at least stand a chance against the Caster's Master if what was reported in the Church about him not being a magus at all was true. However, that did not eliminate the second problem.

"Tell me, even if I let you go with Saber-san, how would you find their new lair considering how big Fuyuki is?"

Suddenly his determined expression suddenly diluted as he realized a schema, he should have taken into account in his rush to start his desperate search to find those bastards. He should have. How the hell was she going to find them now in an environment so much bigger than Karakura? It was just lucky that Waver found his old lair thanks to his alchemy kit or something, but Ichigo wasn't an alchemist and didn't know anything about it. He wondered if the young magus was trying to find the new lair right now and he finally managed to find them now. Is it worth asking him now?

"Fortunately, I have the solution for this." Urahara said suddenly making Ichigo look at him. The latter wore a beaming smile.

"What do you mean?" Ichigo asked curiously and somewhat hopefully.

The shopkeeper's smile widened a bit. "You see, after visiting the Church for the last time, I received this from Kotomine-san." He responded as he pulled out of his pocket some sort of circular object. When he brought it into view, Ichigo studied the object seeing that it looked rather like an antique pocket watch trimmed in gold with a navy-blue background and tan interior. Despite its clock-like appearance, Ichigo didn't see any written numbers marking the time and only had a clock hand. However, the next thing that caught his attention was that in each corner there were 4 capital letters that symbolized N (top), S (bottom), E (right) and W (left).

All of this told him that it was the object in reality.

"What is that? A compass or something?" He asked looking at the shopkeeper.

Urahara gave him a smile before answering. "It's not just any compass. It's a magical energy detector that picks up mana vibrations in the environment. It's an item only used by inexperienced magi who don't have magical energy perception." He explained before handing Ichigo the compass. "I think it will help you if you want to find Caster and his Master."

Ichigo stared at the newly obtained item intently now knowing that this strange item would be of great help in locating Caster and perhaps his Master as well. He could almost feel his hopes of searching for him without the help of Waver or another magus rising, and he wouldn't have to search the entire city for an entire night.

"Heh, I don't think that thing isn't as perceptible as my senses." A new familiar voice caught Ichigo's ears, and the latter saw Saber peeking out from behind Urahara much to Ichigo's surprise. She wore a conceited smile.

"I think you should rely more on my instincts than that contraption since my perception of magical energy is much higher and I'll be able to locate him, plus he's probably still interested in me and will come meet us."

"Hmm, that's right. With this compass and Saber-san's instincts, you might be able to locate Caster faster than I had expected." Urahara hummed with a euphoric smile looking at Ichigo. The latter also couldn't help but be so excited about the news.

"Not to mention me, of course." A new voice made an appearance and the 3 turned to the right to see Uryū just out of his room and looking with his arms crossed at the former Substitute without any sign of being surprised or annoyed by the latter's decision.

"Ishida." Ichigo said a bit surprised.

"I see you anticipated what Kurosaki-san was going to do, huh?" Urahara commented.

"Kurosaki is not the only one who has been watching the news and he knew very well what reaction he would take to see it." Ishida replied as he walked towards the group until he stopped in front of Kurosaki to look at him seriously. Ichigo also looked at him with the same seriousness waiting for the Quincy to say anything to prompt him to stop this madness and wait for all the training to end so that he would be strong enough to go on his own.

The silence between the 2 didn't last long when the Quincy was the first to speak.

"Listen, Kurosaki, just know that I'm not going to make any attempt to stop you in going after Caster and his Master if that's what you want." Ichigo was surprised to hear that his friend/rival apparently wasn't going to stop him. "But I'm also not going to let you go on your own even if Saber accompanies you since you haven't completed your training yet and we also don't know what that Master is capable of."

Ichigo didn't say anything yet as he knew deep down that the Quincy was right regarding the Caster's Master' abilities. According to recent information provided by the Church, the supposed Caster's Master was called Ryūnosuke Uryū, and that he is apparently not a magus and that he is unaware of the world of magic, but that did not explain why the Grail chose him as Master and that will participate in the Grail War only to deviate from the ritual to commit heinous serial murders everywhere. In any case, if the information were correct, Ichigo would be facing a simple human, although surely with cynical skills in assassination.

As a human, Ichigo was used to fighting against thugs who look pretty tough as the case of Reiichi Ōshima, and could even take on an entire group by himself, if they didn't carry rocks or baseball bats of course. But he did not believe that any of them had such a cynical or psychopathic character and fond of slicing necks just for the twisted pleasure of seeing blood spilled. He still didn't know what this guy Ryūnosuke is capable of as a serial killer, but something told him that guy isn't that big deal for various reasons.

"I know, but I think I can deal with him." Ichigo replied with complete confidence making Ishida raise an eyebrow at the apparent response.

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Let's assume that guy is a crazy psychopath, but he still didn't show up next to Caster every time we found as if he didn't want to confront us directly."

Ishida's expression was filled with astonishment as he processed this since considering what the orange haired boy had just said, he seemed to be right in that statement.

"That's true. Until now, we haven't seen the face of that worm's Master as if he was hiding." Saber added agreeing with Ichigo. "Clearly he is just as cowardly as his Servant."

Ishida was lost in thought collecting all the facts they knew about the alleged Caster's Master. They certainly hadn't come face to face with said individual in the battle in that park until now as if he didn't want to risk facing them for some reason, and it seemed that Caster was only acting on his own. As he had learned about how the Servants must participate in this war, they must all depend without exception on the mana supplied by their respective Masters in order to continue existing in this world and be able to fight effectively. In all the battles that have to be fought, Masters always accompany their Servants to back them up in case of need or fight against the enemy Master and thus gain the upper hand or win the battle without the need for the Servant to defeat his opponent if one of the Masters died.

However, not all Masters meet this requirement to the letter since sometimes they remain far away on the battlefield as in the case of Tokiomi Tohsaka, the supposed Archer's Master, due to the latter's special ability, 'Independent Action', which allows him to be absent from his Master's magical energy supply for a limited time. He wondered if Caster had a similar ability, but quickly ruled out such a possibility since he didn't find anything like it while studying about his class. All he knew of his Master was that he was more or less the same as Kurosaki, a non-magus and apparently with no knowledge of magecraft, which was why he hadn't been seen on the battlefield.

If that were true, it's possible that Kurosaki might stand a chance against him if they went toe-to-toe.

"Well, I guess you're right about Caster's Master not being as dangerous as the other Masters, but don't forget you'll be dealing with a psychotic maniac." Urahara remembered not long after.

Ishida took in what the shopkeeper had just said and knew he was right. One thing that worried him was that even if the rogue Master wasn't a magus and couldn't do a standard skill, it didn't leave the fact that he would face a blood-obsessed sadistic maniac, and who knows what kinds of skills in that art he could use.

"I don't think it's a big deal. Remember I once fought Kenpachi, Grimmjow and other tougher guys before." Ichigo argued without caring in the least what he was facing now. A simple serial killer couldn't be nearly as dangerous as any sworn enemy he'd faced in the past.

This time neither Urahara nor Ishida discussed the argument seeing that he was right that the reckless young Kurosaki had already faced countless far more deadly enemies who wanted him dead and he always managed to beat them almost all. Although of course, that was when he was a Shinigami. However, he now possessed a new power that had only recently been tapped into its potential in those training sections, and while he still had a long way to go to complete it, it was already clear that he was improving rapidly and could almost be said to be able to deal with anyone who was in the way below the level of an experienced magus.

Urahara was the first to express this resolve.

"Well, I guess you're right about that too. A simple assassin couldn't possibly pose a threat to you."

"But you forget that he has Caster's backing." Ishida replied causing the two to reconsider the situation. "We still don't know if-

"No problem for me!" Saber suddenly interrupted. "That bastard still hasn't regained his strength since the last battle, and I doubt that this time it will be a problem for me to face him again."

The Quincy barely resisted rolling his eyes at the Knight of the Rebellion's apparent declaration of his overconfidence, but he still knew he had a point. Just as it seemed in the last duel, Caster was not an especially strong Servant due to the person instilled in said class not being a full-fledged magus during his lifetime, but he was still able to make up for this drawback by summoning his familiars, all through his only Noble Phantasm, the Grimoire of Prelati, which acts as a massive mana reserve and a guide for whatever spell he hopes to enact. So far, the only ability they've seen using that book was summoning near-endless waves of demonic, amphibious familiars without fatigue, making him a viable threat despite his failings.

Such was the possibility that he could recover at any moment and return to being a threat that-

"Well then there's no time to waste." Ichigo suddenly exclaimed before starting off. "Let's go!"

Before the bespectacled Quincy could even protest his friend/rival's stubbornness, the latter had already passed by his side and moved further away from him as he exited the compound.

"Wait for me, I'm coming too!"

An instant later, Ishida was almost pushed aside by the wild blonde who immediately tried to keep up with her Master to join in her search.

Having recovered from his daze, Ishida frowned as he watched the two leave the compound. Urahara could only chuckle behind his fan as if this amused him more than anything else.

"Geez, whenever he has something on his mind, there's nothing to stop him."

Ishida just sighed in exasperation at such this fairly usual turn of events for the dumbass Kurosaki, but he wasted no more time in being the next to run and catch up with the Master-Servant pair to safeguard the idiot and try to protect him if the situation required it.

Thus the 4 went to the streets of Shinto in search of Caster and his Master...

That is all for today. As we could see, Ichigo is constantly improving with Reinforcement although for now I didn't include Projection training as that will be seen in later chapters. I'm sorry. You should know that before I had planned to extend the chapter until Ichigo's meeting with Ryūnosuke, but it would be too long and it would take me time to do it, so I decided to use that part to make the next chapter that this time will not be starring Ichigo and his gang.

Before I wrap up you should also know that the other reason I didn't post a new chapter was because I was portraying the canonical Bleach characters, and...well, what do you want me to say? I'm still a novice writing my first generalized Bleach story, and even more so when writing it in a darker setting.

As we have seen, Ichigo is taking Caster's rampage very personally due to the atrocities committed by him. I wanted Ichigo to feel the same distaste towards Caster and his Master that he felt towards the Grand Fisher.

In fact, it was a shame that Ichigo didn't kill him instead of Isshin, and I'm sorry to tell you that in this story we won't see Ichigo personally take down some bad guys (more reason to hate me), but that does not mean that we will not see it later.

I know some people don't like how I interpret Ichigo as an OC or something else as a non-canon character, but I try my best to make him look canon. However, that doesn't mean Ichigo will would be reduced to a mere spectator if that's what they fear. Despite my shortcomings as an author, I am going to complete this story and give it a worthwhile ending.

Ja ne!